


Breakthrough

by TheBabblingWriter



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Kidnapping, Plot, Torture, friendly loving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 00:48:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8512333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBabblingWriter/pseuds/TheBabblingWriter
Summary: Vera gets on the wrong side of a suspect in a brutal case. Being kidnapped and tortured leaves her as a shell of herself. But the squad don't give up on her, Barba least of all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is unedited and lacking a lot of details. I just had so much going on in my head that I needed to get some of it out. I might come back and flesh it out at some point. Also I should point out that I'm NOT a doctor, therefore not every medical tidbit will be correct but it's fanfiction...
> 
> Briefly based on this prompt: Person A undergoing physical/mental torture that essentially leaves them broken and as the shell of the person they once were before. Person B saves them and cares for them, doing everything/anything in their power to bring some-any-semblance of their old self back. The day person A cracks a smile, Person B nearly has a breakdown.
> 
> (Prompt isn't mine, found it on http://otpdisaster.tumblr.com

It was horrific, nobody was even fully sure of what happened that day, but it was awful. During a case the SVU squad had narrowed down their suspect list to a man, Douglas Hallander. He’d been kidnapping girls, mostly sex workers, and taking them to an empty warehouse, some of them were sexually assaulted, some were just dead bodies left to rot after undergoing extensive torture; it all depended on how badly they'd been rejected him.

During his interrogation, Vera had played the dominating female, she’d undermined him at every turn and he’d almost broken, until Benson and Barba pulled her out. He’d lawyer-ed up and there was nothing more she could do.

The date of his arraignment came and despite how hard Barba tried, the lack of evidence meant he ROR’d. Barba looked back at them and gave them an apologetic look. After another long day trying to find something on this guy, the squad eventually called it a night.

The perks of living only a few blocks from the precinct meant that Vera didn’t have to bother wasting money on cabs or an Uber. Besides, despite the city horror she’d seen, the night could be peaceful. She buried her hands in her coat pockets and walked quickly, desperate to get to her bed. Of course, she had no idea about the rock coming straight for her head, but it was already too late.

* * *

It was only a few hours before she woke up, head pounding and tied to a chair. Her vision was blurry for a moment but when everything finally fleshed out she realised that her situation was a lot worse than she’d first thought. She looked around, she was tied to a metal chair, so there was no hope of breaking it and getting free. Over in the corner, Douglas watched, fiddling with some wires. She eyed him briefly and noticed that he’s taken her shoes, socks and coat.

The floor was flooded with water, which she noticed seemed to be dripping from above. Vera looked up, a hose was attached above her, dripping cold water on the back of her neck. Footsteps caught her attention. Douglas was now stood in front of her, a knife in his hand.

Vera forced herself to stay calm, knowing that any panicked reaction would only serve to please him.

“You’re making a mistake Douglas. Taking a NYPD officer? Not very smart. If you let me go, this can all be over.” She spoke calmly. His expression didn’t even change, he moved forward with the knife, stabbing it into her t-shirt and forcing the blade down, eyes unblinking as it occasionally sliced through skin.

Vera grit her teeth at the brief waves of pain. Once her t-shirt was ripped clean through, he pulled it off leaving her clad only in her bra and jeans. There was a small part of her that panicked slightly.

Hallander walked away, towards a table where he deposited the remains of her t-shirt and reached over turning a tap. Vera barely had time to register anything before the hose above her turned on, freezing cold water washed over her, her body tensed, goosebumps covering her whole body. She started to shiver and that’s when Douglas pulled out the wires he’d been messing with earlier.

She tried to keep herself from shivering as she watched him. He walked towards the puddle of water that extended a few feet away from her. He looked at her and nonchalantly dropped the wires into the water.

Vera flinched, expecting pain but none came. Until he walked over to where the wires were attached to the wall. She couldn’t see it properly, but she was sure there was a small switch at the side. Douglas’ hand flipped something and suddenly she couldn’t think anymore, the rivulets of pain were too much.

* * *

The squad stood together, joined by Barba, discussing any leads that they had.

“Has anyone seen Vera?” Rollins mentioned, glancing over at her co-workers desk.

There was a round of negative answers and the squad seemed to share concerned glances.

“Fin and I’ll check her apartment, maybe she just overslept. She’s been working herself hard on this case.” Benson nodded and turned to her office, attempting to call Vera’s cell phone.

When it rang out she looked over at Barba who seemed to be having the same problem. All they could do was sit there and wait.

Almost 20 minutes passed before Rollins called, informing them that Vera hadn’t arrived home last night and that they’d retraced her route home, finding her keys and a rock covered in blood.

Barba concealed his panic the best he could knowing that it wasn’t going to help. Instead he stood, there were a few people who owed him favours and he planned to collect.

“I can get you a warrant for Hallander’s apartment.” He told Liv.

* * *

 

By the time they found the warehouse, 2 days had passed. Amaro had caught Hallander at a hardware store, buying aluminium wire and duct tape. After a long interrogation, he gave up the location.

Barba knew he shouldn’t be at a crime scene, this wasn’t his job, he belonged behind the scenes, but this was Vera and he had to know, the waiting would have killed him.

They busted open the warehouse door and the smell was intense. There was a metallic tang in the air that was almost overpowered by the smell of burnt flesh. Swallowing the bile that threatened to show, Amaro went in first, the rest of the squad following behind. Liv ran over, noticing Vera’s soaked and shivering body, she was covered in small cuts and burns, most of her skin covered in blood without the water washing it away.

“We need a bus!” She called back. Barba hesitantly went in, the smell bringing tears to his eyes before he even caught sight of her half naked body. If it wasn’t for the small shivers, he’d have thought she was a corpse. Her body was pale, slightly tinged blue. He looked away, unable to continue seeing her like that.

* * *

 

The squad sat and waited, the hospital noise seemed to fade when they finally saw the doctor coming towards them. 

“How is she?” Fin was the first to ask.

The doctor offered them a grim smile.

“She’s alive. The cuts and burns weren’t too extensive, there aren’t any lasting internal injuries and there isn’t any trauma consistent with sexual assault.” he told them.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

“So she’ll be okay?” Amanda asked. The doctor seemed hesitant.

“She’s asleep right now, but you should know, it’s not the physical damage I’m worried about. We’re not entirely sure what the ordeal did to her mental state.”

He left them at that.

* * *

As it turned out, Vera was in shock. Something that the doctors weren’t sure was going to end soon, if at all. She almost seemed paralysed, she stared straight ahead, unmoving. The doctors told the squad that while she was unresponsive, she could still hear things around her.

Liv dropped by when she could with Noah, just to keep Vera company.

Sonny would sit around and study, occasionally running his thoughts by her, telling her about his family or about his day. 

Nick would bring flowers and talk about the baseball games she was missing. 

Amanda stopped by every day to listen to music and watch TV with her while Fin read her articles from Times and other magazines.

Barba didn’t stop by until at least a week after she’d woken up. He wasn’t sure what to do or what to say. Eventually, he convinced himself to go. Vera was sat there like every other day, staring at nothing in particular.

Unsure of what exactly to say, he sat down, placed his hand on hers and opened the book he’d brought with him. Pride and Prejudice, her favourite book. His words echoed through the hospital room as he read to her, hoping to reach something inside of her, to bring her back to him.

* * *

 

Weeks passed and it became routine for all of them to stop by at some point during the day, telling her about their cases and recent events, celebrity scandals (thank you Amanda).

It was around 8pm and Barba was sat with Vera, going over his day, complaining about some intern they’d thrown at him.

“He’s a moron, I didn’t think they could get any worse than Carisi, but they found a way.” He told her, bitterness lacing his tone as he remembered how the 20-something idiot, who’d only just passed the bar, tried to undermine him.

He glanced over at Vera expecting nothing but a blank expression but his heart almost gave out when he saw a small smile on her lips.

“Vera?” He stood from his chair and gripped her hand tighter.

No response came but the little squeeze her felt from her hand was enough of an answer. The tears collected in his eyes and it was all he could do not to let them fall.

“That’s my girl.” He whispered.


End file.
